The Redhunter

If Romney had a sincere change of heart on the abortion issue because of a family members experience, that still doesn't explain why at the exact same time why he also changed his mind on gay rights and both decisions changed for whichever election that he was running in. He ran left of Ted Kennedy in Massachusettes.
In his big speech to the country on his faith he said that he could not turn his back on the faith of his fathers even if it cost him the election, but he wasn't singing that tune while running for governor. He abandoned all of his mormon beliefs just a few year earlier and hoped that noone would remember.
I was turned off on Romney when he first announced his bid for the whitehouse calling himself a lifelong hunter and then it tuned out that he never has even had a hunting license. It told me that he was not honest and would say anything that he thought would get the most votes. He has no principles that I can see.

Also, you mentioned that Mike Huckabee should not get chosen because he was a former Baptist minister. Were you aware that Romney is a former Mormon bishop?

You also mention his economical prowess. Are you aware that Romney spent over 20 million of his own personal money on his failed bid for the whitehouse. Not a good investment I would say.

Mike Huckabee won way more states on a fraction of the money that Romney spent and was completely out of debt when he ended his bid.

I would say Huchabee ran a far better/smarter camapign.

I agree with one thing that you said: McCain will not choose either Huckabee or Romney. You are wrong on 2 accounts. According to Rassmussen polling done July 27 Mike Huckabee is more favored than Mitt Romney and has about 10 percent fewer who have an unforavable view of him. So, your pro-Romney view is not shared by most people. You are right! Huckabee is disliked by liberatrians and people who are "wall-street" Republicans.

This brings me to my second point: There is a divide between Wall-Street Republicans and Main Street Republicans. Many want to make it an evangelical thing, but it is deeper than that. For example, Pawlenty said, "the Republican Party should be the Sam's club party and not the country club party." This split is the real problem.

Jamie.seales@vanderbilt.edu shoot me an email so we can talk in the future:)

Country-club Republicans! I knew there was something that made me feel uneasy about Romney. I couldn't put my finger on it. I know that he is the scion of a very wealthy family, and of course that makes him part of the private country-club crowd---Wall Street, yachts, estates, personal billions. Out of my league. He strikes me as cold and calculating, wonder what he thinks. He does not seem folksy. The evangelicals don't seem to feel at ease with him any more than I do, and I am an agnostic.

Among Republicans, I liked Huckabee the best. He is warm and gregarious. He plays bass guitar in a band, and that made him look so approachable and amiable to me. As an agnostic, I could even dismiss his being a Baptist minister. He is quite articulate, can think on his feet, and he talks like the man on the six o'clock news and not like Bill Clinton or Bush.

I always thought conservatives were all Bible-belt Christian evangelicals. Bush got elected the first time due to the influence of the evangelicals, I thought. That evangelist that died not too long ago said that he would live to see a born-again Christian in the White House, and he did. He used to go and visit Bush in the White House, and when asked who his favorite philosopher was, Bush answered "Jesus", and said that the first thing he did every morning was read his Bible. That won over the evangelicals. I think now they feel abandoned.

I don't think the evangelicals want someone who reaches for the Book of Mormon, who has access to the inner sanctums of any Mormon temple, when other Christians do not. The Mormons have set themselves apart that way; it seems elitist and secretive. Other Christian churches are so open and welcoming.

I hope you're not irritated at me for not liking Romney, but I just have this gut feeling about him. We've had someone of his class in the White House already.

You know, if those evangelicals will abandon the GOP should Romney be chosen VP, then they are just doing what they did when many of them abandoned the Democratic party over the loss of segregation. They vote their personal prejudices. Probably many of them will just stay home and not vote, and some of Hillary's supporters will do the same or switch to McCain.

It is so hard to feel out which way this election is likely to go. There have been so many surprises in who would end up the nominees.

Emilie
Port Orchard, WA

I hope he doesn't pick either of them but prefer Mitt of the two.. but then again, my all-time politician is Phil Gramm. Oh well...

The story by Redhunter is complete and total nonsense. Those who support Huckabee do not want Mitt Romney anywhere near the Oval Office because he is symptomatic of all that is wrong in Washington DC. He is the puppet of the economic conservatives who have a rigged system that make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Their mouthpieces, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the like are pushing Romney as hard as they can, because they want McCain to side with the establishment, not bring the reform that is everyone knows is needed, and which will get Obama elected unless McCain chooses someone like Huckabee, and there is only one person like Huckabee - himself. The objection has nothing to do with Mormonism or even flip-flopping. People understand that Romney is inauthentic and would destroy any chance that McCain has of winning.

The discussion above, paticularly TRH's comment about Republican angst and his cite of Kathryn Jean Lopez, encapsulates the dilemma for McCain and the GOP.

A probelm for the GOP is that it consists of constituencies that have a litmus test(s) whatever the test is: "He became a consrvative but was not born one." "abortion" "gay marriage" "taxes" Whatever.

I like John McCain, personally, which is not necessarily enough to convince me to vote for him. But the GOP, individual Republicans, have to make a decision, and that decision is to dowhatever is necessary to elect John McCain b/c he is the GOP candidate.

From the outside looking in I see all these groups saying: "If he is unwilling or unable to execute our preferred game plan, we are going to take our ball and go home."

I can only say: "Adios. Voya con Dios."

The fact is that for McCain to win the election, he needs to win the independent swing voters. Bush was able to do this (or maybe not) in 2000 and this election resembles that one more than 2004.

So I say to all the Evagelicals w/ litmus paper in their hands and all the conservatives w/ their check lists: "Get over yourselves."

You elected George W. Bush and set him up as your icon, and people like me can write volumes about the rotten job he has done and the majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.

New voters and youing voters are flocking to Obama which at the very least indicates that the forces that have driven the GOP need to change tactics.

Conservatism isn't dead by any means. Just read the comments above. But it desparately needs a new set of clothes to attract voters particularly young voters and swing voters. You cannot accomplish that if you greet them at the door w/ litmus paper and check lists.

Regards.

TLGK

LOL

What a world it is when of all the comments above the one I agree with most is made by the liberal; The Loop Garoo Kid.

I wrote this post on a whim, yet it has garnered more comments than any in awhile. I wish my Iraq posts would create this much discussion, but such is life.

The democrats have similar divisiveness left over from the primaries: many Hillary supporters still say they would rather vote for McCain than Obama out of protest. Most of these are pro-choice feminists, but they are really upset Hillary lost, and are willing (as least they say so) to vote for the opposition because they are so bitter. I find this year's election very amusing.